Welcome to Gaia! ::

David's steel-colored eyes raced around the room, trailing the brunette blur that was his sister. Namini's curls danced around her delicate cheeks, bobbing to and fro to some silent beat, as the teen continued to check on the singing asparagus, the golden chicken pot pie in the oven, the honey-glazed rolls, the cooling chocolate-raspberry cake in the fridgerator. Tonight, there would be enough food for all of Gaia but it would be served to only a select few: a kind blonde and a troublesome feline-femme fatale. An interesting pair. A pair of balance. Just like Namini and Prajna were. At this thought, cerulean eyes scanned the room, stopping for only a split second to meet and greet familiar eyes. David's muscles tensed, as if it to spring up and towards his sister in assistance with whatever she may have asked of him, but Namini's eyes left him in that same moment, murdering instantly whatever hope her brother had of winning back her attention. Both Nao's eyes fluttered across the room to the balcony where a silhouette of red floated in silence. Prajna was overlooking a garden an elderly woman was tending to, a small patchwork of crimson roses and delicate forget-me-nots. The Frei sighed heavily, remembering the heavenly scent of those roses, of Vyn. Vyn Vyn Vyn.

Once the Star had awoken from its slumber, the pleasant iciness running smoothly through its veins, the wretched sweat banished forevermore, that's all it could think about: the haunting beauty with the bottomless eyes and the lips as soft and beautiful as rose petals. Vyn.

Prajna had, sometime in its reminiscing, closed its crimson outlined eyes when suddenly two sharp knocks echoed through the tense air of the apartment. David and Prajna both flinched while Namini continued to coo over chickens and cookies; They turned towards one another slowly, their eyes full of mutual indifference for the other but also a mutual understanding of the situation. Dinner. With the enemy? Dinner. With a potentially hot. hot. new client?

"I'll get it" David announced as he sprung from his seat and glided across the room. The air inside the apartment was stale but crisp and Prajna was saddened to have to re-enter the hellhole. Ever since its recovery, things between Namini and itself had gotten magnificently better while the relationship with David had...come to a standstill. It was if they were strangers, living under the same roof, sharing the same object of affection.

David twisted the doorknob and prepared his warmest smile. He opened the door but instead of being instantly awed by the two beauties before him, he was suddenly back on edge. The girl with dark dark hair, dark makeup, cat ears, the Frei...her smile, he noted, looked a lot like his. When he wasn't David Nao but rather...He pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

"You must be Lucia? Prajna's friend? and her guardian?" David purred, gesturing them to make their way into the living room. Prajna kept its distance from the feline Frei, having made its way back indoors. It remembered...just what that smile of hers meant. The redhead narrowed its eyes suspiciously, crossed its arms and then pressed its crow-like wings against the glass door revealing the balcony. If she were to attack it now, it only had to float onto the balcony and then... jump? Prajna shook its head. Only if worse comes to worse.

"Yuu" David purred, enjoying the short but velvety feel of the woman's name. He returned her lovely smile and then nodded in agreement, watching as the duo entered the apartment. "Yes, Namini told me about you as well. Speaking of Namini, she's just in the kitchen finishing up--"

A familiar set of curly brown locks bounced from around a corner, the teen herself nearly bouncing from mix of nervous excitement, "Just a few more minutes, I swear! Yuurei, would you or Lucia like anything to drink?"

David smirked at his sister's unexpected enthusiasm but suddenly took in Prajna's distant nature. Friends huh? I think Namini's sugar-coating something.. The gears in David's mind began to turn, slowly, but turn nonetheless. Now that the virus was done and over with, Prajna had become more verbal but its body language was more confusing than ever. Though its arms would cross, it would throw a compliment to you, in an absolute genuine tone. If it smiled, there could no longer be confidence in just assuming the Flame intended harm. David took in Prajna's defensive posture but tried his best to focus on the newcomers. Tonight would be a night to focus on Prajna's tricky words versus the way it held itself together.

Speaking of words... David took in Lucia's sugary introduction with a half-hearted smile before, again, nodding in agreement, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well. ...Prajna? Come say 'Hello.' to our guests."

The redhead's eyes flickered with what David could only hope was enthusiasm as the Star made its way towards the doorway, though its arms remained chained across its chest. Icy blues shifted quickly in between Lucia's disgustingly flawless, female features and Yuurei's enchanting, human traits as a frown sat itself deeper into the genderless Frei's features.

"It has be a long time for last time Prajna saw. Yuurei. Lucia. Prajna hope nothing but," it paused, pretending to search for the appropriate word before continuing, a soft smirk adorning its androgynous features now as its cerulean eyes dirtied Lucia's body with insulting thoughts. "Health."

David flinched.

David did not try to conceal his growing anxiety. He felt like Namini and the newcomer blonde were communicating in some kind of secret, unbreakable language. "Take your time" seemed to translate to "Don't rush: we don't want something unfortunate to occur." "Wine" was some code word for "relief." "Hopefully they'll get along fine this time"?! David swallowed hard, his mind racing now. The man couldn't help but keep his steely grey eyes off of the cat-Frei either. There seemed to be something more to her than how intimidating she looked in her spiked bracelets and revealing attire. Lucia emitted "dark" in a more haunting sense that sent a small chill up David's spine just thinking about it.

The man returned to reality, "I've got some wine in my room. It's a rose wine is that alright? I might have some red somewhere...but I highly doubt it."

Namini's ears had perked at her brother's voice and soon she found herself curious. David drank wine? She'd keep that in mind. She continued to watch the asparagus simmer, wondering, from her noisy corner in the kitchen, just what was occurring between Prajna and Lucia. That's when she heard a female's voice sing out to her, "Oh, no I'm ok Lucia. Thank you for offering. Please, take a seat if you'd like."

Prajna did not like Lucia's words. "Were"? No. In the Star's eyes, every female but the beauty that was Vyn was and forever would remain "sick." The redhead watched the tension between them spread like an outstretched hand to its older guardian. So, David noticed something weird about this wench too hm? Prajna watched with a surgeon's eyes as Lucia floated this way and that, trying to charm everything that move, the redhead itself trying to figure out what was going through the cat's small little brain. She seemed..way too different from before. Maybe she needs a little push to get her back to her true self. Prajna mentally prepared itself for battle, an uncomfortable frown tugging at the sides of its thin lips.

"Lucia" Prajna called, its voice flat but dangerous, like a thin sheet of ice covering the surface of a bottomless pond. "If you truly are sorry, then why you look not at Prajna? You alright you say? Prajna sees not more than weakness still."

Its English remained broken and improper but Prajna wondered if the insult came across just right nonetheless.

Namini felt a pinkness flicker to life in her cheeks as she double-checked the pot pie coming to life in the oven, a nervous hand brushing wandering curls from her right ear, "I've got everything under control, but thank you...Thank you, Yuurei. Please, make yourself comfortable. Now, if David's said something to make you...uncomfortable, I'll get him for that."

The teen picked up a nearby spatula and made a large, playful X in the air with it as David reentered the room, making a dying moan as he presented a large emerald-colored bottle.

"Ta~da~! Tonight, Namini gets to be one of the grown-ups," David chuckled, the blonde's beauty slowly returning him back to his youthful mannerisms. Maybe..Maybe he was just overreacting. As he began to pour the wine into delicate glass cups, David quickly began to push his concerns to the back of his mind, a move he would later regret.

Prajna watched as everything fell into slow motion. The room was spinning but it wasn't. Lucia's violet eyes were pulling, pulling, clawing at Prajna's neck and clothes like some kind of drunken beggar, as if by closing the space between the two Freis would bring the cat closer to some kind of relief. Or fun little surprise. Prajna found itself unable to restrain itself: its lips twitched into a smirk. Lucia's eyelashes were dark and long and, as she leaned in close, as she smiled, the Star also noted how her skin showed no pore, no flaw and yet...Prajna still found her so unattractive.

Perhaps it was that scratchy voice. It felt like cheap felt in the Flame's ears, while Vyn's had been nothing but silk and the gates of Heaven opening.

"---Fool--" is all Prajna found itself hearing when Lucia's lips stopped moving and she was nothing but smiles and rulebook courtesy again. Prajna blinked. What had she said?

"Fool?" Prajna repeated, tasting the word. It knew it meant the same as "stupid" or "dumb", but for some reason, the way Lucia had said it... "Does not care. Prajna does not care if fool. Lucia is more weak still and still ugly forevermore."

Prajna did not take a seat at the table. Instead, without checking to see if they were still being visually hounded by their guardians, the redhead floated over to Lucia's side of the table and let some of her midnight-colored tresses slip between its pale fingers. Or rather, ran its delicate fingers through the course of a ponytail. Its smirk widened as it shook its hands once finished, as if throwing some invisible water off of them.

"Yes, still ugly. And feeling of cheap and poor."

Prajna prepared itself for a hit.

David felt his ego swell as Yuurei's eyes wandered up and down the bottle, as if she had never seen such a thing. Ohhh how the man loved women like her. After pouring the glasses, David held one out to Yuurei, his finger tracing the rim of the rounded glass, "I'd love to see any private collection in your care, Yuurei."

Namini rolled her eyes as she took the finished asparagus from the stovetop and the crisp pot pie from the oven. As she began counting plates and dividing the meal, Namini suddenly realized how quiet it was, outside the guardians' small chit-chat.

Suddenly, her voice nothing more than an exhale, Namini asked, her eyes staring off into space, "David..were you keeping an eye on Prajna?"

And as if on cue, Prajna's shaky right hand grabbed a nearby fork and twisted skyward bound, creating two slivers of red against Lucia's right cheek. Because of the sudden adrenaline rush, Prajna had missed the outside of her lips, having hoped to hook into the mouth itself and just tear open the flapping nuisances. b***h. This was one of the forbidden words, one of the Bad Things Namini had taught it never to say, not ever. And here was this.. b***h calling the well-mannered Star a b***h! Prajna could barely control its anger any longer. If Lucia wasn't going to fight, then Prajna was just going to beat the crap out of her. Females, it thought, should be taught a lesson.

Both Naos watched in horror as the violent series of events unfolded before them, the scenes spinning by as if in slo-mo. Namini instinctively dropped the spatula and asparagus, trying to push her way past the others, but Yuurei and David had already responded to the situation, like some kind of special operations' EMTs, designed specifically to maintain Raevan order. Namini watched, half hidden behind the counter, as Yuurei, the elegant beauty that she was showed a more dangerous side to her looks and as David, the casual flirt and playful brother that he was, pulled a complete one-eighty, replacing his signature smirk with a dark, raw look of solemnity. Namini felt her blood freeze painfully in the veins of her fragile body as she watched Prajna take a heavy blow to the face, a splash of crimson dripping down its cheek. It was hard to breathe! Then, things picked up speed.

Yuurei tackled Lucia to the ground! David swung and pinned Prajna against the wall! The air was quiet and tense aside from Prajna's cursing and shuffling. Something inside the Star had snapped. What the redhead was experiencing was completely foreign, unlike anything it had felt before. When it had fought Varun, things had began slow, things had maintained some form of order, as if both Raevans had unknowingly followed some fighting code of conduct. When Prajna had fought Delia, things were a blur, an odd heated blur, but nonetheless, that unspoken understanding of fighting rules seemed inevitable. With Rivener, the same intensity was there. The want to hurt but the want to play by these "rules" coexisted in every one of these "fights." But here Lucia was...Here was this...FEMALE pushing Prajna to new limits. It wanted nothing more than to hurt hurt HURT her, to tear her ugly lips off, to scratch and claw at her hideous animal ears, to rip out her horrible black hair, to make her feel so sorry for ever crossing Prajna! The Flame beat the wall with the fork still in hand as it flapped its wings violently against David's chest, forcing the older Nao to press Prajna's bleeding cheek into the pristine wall.

"Prajna! Stop it! Stop squirming! We can't stop the blood if you kee--PRAJNA! STOP STABBING THE WALL!" David roared into the Frei's ear but it was futile. The Star let out the most god-awful scream it could produce as it made a lunge for Lucia, the blood on its cheek spread all across its cheek and jaw now. The burning in Prajna's chest was unbearable. The need to feel warm blood on its hands, the blazing desire to take away ...to take away a life was so strong, Prajna felt its head begin to spin. Or maybe it was because of the loss of blood. Nothing made sense anymore.

As Prajna attempted to stab indefinite holes into Lucia's fragile looking face just by looking at her with its piercing blues, suddenly there was a warmth on its other, whole cheek. The Star's breathing stopped. It blinked, hard, once, twice, three times before realizing what the feeling was. Namini had crept up on her brother and her charge, a disappointed look playing across her doll like features. Prajna's eyes snapped back to reality and its breathing resumed, a bit ragged but slowed now.

"Prajna..Let's get you cleaned up.." Namini murmured as she gestured for David to let go. The older Nao seemed reluctant but eventually gave in, as Namini took hold of each of Prajna's hands. The room had become eerily silent now. "I'm sorry, Ms. Yuurei.." the teen choked as she guided Prajna towards another room of the apartment. The Frei seemed to be floating off in a daze, though its eyes flickered continously back and forth between Namini's face and Lucia's.

Once they were fully out of the picture, David turned to Yuurei, sighing. He noted the blood covering his shirt and frowned, but then turned genuinely concerned eyes to his guests, "I..Is there anything..we..or rather, I can do for you? ...We had no intention of having the evening going like this, Ms. Yuurei. Lucia."

David's steely eyes narrowed at the cat's name, nodding towards the metal knuckles decorating her fist.

Seeing the truly apologetic look on Yuurei's features seemed to increase her already established beauty and to see such a female in such dismay, David could not resist putting on a mirrored expression of painful understanding. His stormy eyes softened just a tad as he graciously took Yuurei's card and slipped it into his pants' pocket, for once at a loss for words. Then the older Nao's heartstrings were tortured even more so as the blonde carefully approached the locked door, behind it David was sure Namini, at least, would be listening just as sadly as he was.

As Yuurei finished up her apologies, Lucia now long gone, and turned towards the door, David hated himself for being so unhelpful and so, finally tried to ease the woman's pain by acting in the only manner he really knew how: Within an instant, the taller Chinese male carefully but reassuringly placed his arms around the other's delicate shoulders and squeezed lightly, hoping to genuinely express all the comfort and concern David felt for the beautiful stranger.

"I'm sorry too," he stated, perhaps a bit too solemnly. "Maybe...next time. They'll find peace, one day."

He attempted a smile, though it still came out blatantly doubtful.